The use of forklifts and electric jacks are well known and have been extensively used for many years. Heavy loads are stacked on pallets and the fork lifts and/or electric jacks are provided with lifting forks that slide into the pallets and lift the loaded pallets off the floor. The loaded pallets are then maneuvered by the operator to a desired location and lowered back to the floor and the lifting forks withdrawn. The fork lifts and electric jacks are designed for warehouse type of use and can be found in most manufacturing and distribution facilities.
The lifting forks of the fork lifts and electric jacks are not so conveniently used for moving objects not loaded on pallets. Consider for example a refrigerator having little or no clearance between the cabinet and the floor (although often supported on rollers). There is insufficient room for a lifting fork to be inserted under a refrigerator and in any event, if lifted, the load would be unwieldily with a high probability of causing damage. Refrigerator dollies are typically used to transport refrigerators (the refrigerators being tilted to permit a dolly plate to slide under the refrigerator, the refrigerator lowered back onto the plate, the refrigerator strapped to the dolly and then tilted back onto a pair of wheels and then maneuvered manually to a desired location). However, the present invention is concerned with the transport of such items as main frame computers that although posing the same kind of transport problem as a refrigerator can weigh five to ten times what a refrigerator weighs and has a value that is 100 to 1000 times that of a refrigerator.
Fork lift trucks, electric jacks or refrigerator dollies are not acceptable transportation devices for moving heavy fragile articles, e.g., main frame computers that weigh upwards of 1200 pounds and are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.